Traveling This Summer? Here's Some Tips To Keep You Safe5/20/2009 5:50:28 PMSummer is a great time of year for ID thieves to thrive, so don't become a victim. Also, one survey reports that women are more victimized by ID theft than men. Hmm.

Like most people, I love summer vacations. But once we're away our minds tend to relax and we let our guards down. Big mistake, because at that time of year ID thieves are everywhere. Remember, more and more small time crooks are making a living by stealing information for others. So it’s more important than ever to stay vigilant and protect yourself against these people.

If you’re traveling by plane, don’t toss your boarding pass into the garbage when you’re done with it because personal data is contained in the magnetic code. Shred the document. Also, keep your luggage tags turned in so strangers can’t see your name, address, and phone number. It doesn’t take much information for someone to start stealing from you. And keep a hard copy of your passport and other important documents at home in case yours is stolen.

Speaking of home, ask someone you trust to collect your newspapers and mail, to switch on a different light every night, or even park their car in your driveway. The more it looks like you’re home, the less likely you’ll be robbed. It’s a good idea to let your local police department know you’ll be away.

I read an interesting article in emarketer, an online magazine that discusses a survey about ID theft. One of the things the study determined is that women are hit harder by this type of theft than men (17% of women have lost $1,000 or more compared to 10% of men). Also 61% of men avoided losing money compared to 53% of women. The good news is that 42% of all cases were solved in less than a week, although 72% of the victims indicated that they had no idea how their personal information was stolen. Here’s another interesting stat: 26.5% of all ID theft was committed by friends, relatives or in-home employees. Computer-related fraud came in second at 21.6%. Lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks and credit cards accounted for 15.1% and mail fraud for 11.6% of ID theft crimes. This says a lot about trust issues among those we know, doesn’t it? If you’d like to read more, go to http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007097

Please note that links don't always work from AuthorsDen, so simply copy and paste into your browser.